


strong enough to let you in

by Lorical



Category: In Other Lands | The Turn of the Story - Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23474782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorical/pseuds/Lorical
Summary: Elliot has been working himself too hard lately.Luke aims to fix that.
Relationships: Elliot Schafer/Luke Sunborn
Comments: 4
Kudos: 79





	strong enough to let you in

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like a year ago at 3 am. enjoy

"Elliot," Luke said. "You're killing your husband, Elliot."

The murderer in question sighed. "I know, I know," he said distractedly. His head did not move, and his right hand continued scribbling busily. The other was holding several books open simultaneously, contorted to let Elliot glance up and read from any of them when he needed to.

Elliot's desk was bent a little under the weight of his jars of pens and stacks of books, and it creaked when his arm shifted positions to allow him to write further down on his scroll.

"Elliot," Luke said again. "Come to bed." 

He remembered rather than saw Elliot smile. This was all too common a conversation they had, late at night when Elliot insisted on working rather than resting. So far, it always ended the same way, but Elliot liked to prolong it, and Luke couldn't say he didn't like thinking of new ways to coax him away every time.

With a soft whish as air was pushed around the room, Luke unfurled his wings. He put a hand on his husband's right shoulder, feeling it move as Elliot kept writing. 

"You did that already, angel," he said. "Doesn't work a second time." 

Luke grinned. "Did I?" he asked.

Elliot, braced for wings to curl around him or attempt to smother him into stopping, was totally unprepared when Luke picked up the wooden chair he was sitting in, folded his wings back up, and started to run down the hall towards their bedroom with Elliot and chair.

"Luke!" he shouted, ams flying down to hold the seat of his chair in a death grip. "Oh my god, what are we, fifteen?" 

"Maybe!" Luke laughed. He slowed down once he'd gotten the proper shock out of Elliot. Elliot threw his otherlander pen over his shoulder using one hand and without looking, unsurprisingly missing Luke's face by several feet. His hand immediately shot back down to join the other, despite the fact that they were traveling at a reasonable pace now.

Luke slowly and carefully manuvered through their doorway, and then set Elliot down carefully, leaning over to snake his arms around Elliot and rest his head on his shoulder rather than walk around to face him. Elliot did his very admirable best at visibly glaring at someone who was cuddling with his neck from behind.

"Good thing my glasses didn't fall off," he muttered. Luke was offended, pushing a little more of his weight into his arms. They weren't that tired from grabbing Elliot, but the beams of the chair had dug into them and they were aching a bit.

"I was very gentle!" he protested. "Also, your glasses are tangled in your hair. I doubt I could get them out if I tried." Elliot tried to falsify his claim by taking his glasses off himself, but one end got stuck in a tangle of red curls, and Luke laughed at him.

Having removed and set down his precious glasses on the short table by their bed, Elliot started squirming free of Luke's embrace. Luke let him go, because Luke was blocking the only exit to their bedroom and therefore Elliot's return to work.

As Elliot stood up from the chair in triumph, he realized this, and slumped back down on the bed in defeat. Luke sat next to him, and pressed a kiss to the corner of Elliot's mouth, feeling it be tugged upwards against its will.

"You win," Elliot told him, not even trying not to smile now as he faced his husband. His grin was, of course, naturally distracting, but Luke noticed sadly that there were bags under his eyes and a reddish tint to his upper nose, as if he had been rubbing it frequently. Elliot, whose powers of observation had unfortunately not diminished with age, noticed him noticing. 

"I'm all right," he said. "I just- I just need to get this treaty done, you know? The initial document the captain drew up looked like he asked a child to write the most biased things they knew how to say–"

"I know," Luke said, and pulled Elliot down all the way onto the bed, falling next to him. "I just wish you would take a minute to care about yourself first." 

Elliot flushed, which was a much better reaction than Luke used to get when he expressed concern over his partner's well-being. The gradual lack of snarky, self-depreciating remarks was something he'd failed to fully appreciate for a while.

"I love you too, loser," Elliot replied quietly. Luke inched forward and pressed a kiss to a freckle on his cheek, and Elliot kissed a tiny scar on Luke's jaw in response, a familiar routine.

"You know, you're going to have to get up first and pick up my pen," Elliot murmured. "Or I'm going to trip over it and I'll be very cross tomorrow morning."

Luke smirked, making sure Elliot could see it before Luke pulled the blankets up over them and blew out the lamp. "I will," he promised quietly. They fell asleep still in their regular clothes, but that was a problem for tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> leave kudos and a comment if you want me to finish the other iol fic I started a year ago lmao. yell at me on tumblr at @lightweaverlirael


End file.
